Dragon Eye, PI

ABOUT VERN

Vern is your average North African Faerie Wyvern with a not-so average lifestyle.

Dragons of the magical dimension of Faerie (as you well know) were created by God at the beginning of the world.  They are immortal and androgynous, soulless yet no more evil than any other natural phenomenon.  In fact, they’re rather preferable to many natural phenomena; as Vern would tell you, he never wantonly destroyed anyone’s property or took anyone’s life--unless he was hungry, or had been provoked, or (just on occasion) if it would be funny.  Most of the time, as long as the locals treated him with respect, tossed him a cow when he came calling, and left his treasure alone, he was a benevolent neighbor.  Can you expect similar treatment from a hurricane?

Of course, some creatures--read “humans”--just don’t learn.  Vern had seen his share of angry mobs, brave knights and the poor saps that get chosen by the local village to “confront the infernal beast.”  Even worse were the ages when rescuing a maiden from the dragon was the vogue for courtship.  First off, humans,--male or female, virgin or not--are not a dragon’s dinner of choice, but who’s gonna refuse free food?  Then, to add insult to injury, some bronze-clad macho-man spouting unusually bad epic poetry charges into his lair, pokes him with something pointy and long and takes off with the girl--after stopping to scoop up a dowry, naturally.  And just as naturally, there would be times when the prospective “knight in shining armor” became “spam in a can.”  Particularly if the poetry was really bad.

Well, you know how humans are:  that which is not with us needs to be taken down or subdued.  Thus, the Faerie St. George trapped Vern in a holy spell.  (To this day, Vern insists it was a fluke.)  By the time the saintly knight mage was done, Vern was little larger than a Chihuahua, with no fire, no flight and just enough of his former knowledge to speak Latin and understand most aspects of human life.  St. George the told him he could earn back all his former abilities and regain his dragon glory by serving God and Man through the Faerie Catholic Church.  St. George then presented him to Pope Boniface II, who gave him the “clever” name of Vern d’Wyvern.  (Don’t call him that--Vern will do.)

He started as the Pope’s pet, became his bodyguard and advisor, and moved on to other jobs as the God directed.  In eight centuries, he’s been a scribe, a convent watch-dragon (no problems with keeping the virgins safe there), an Inquisitor (and with evil having the power of magic, the Inquisition had a very different and more dangerous role), and plow "horse"  for a monastery farm.  When the Gap opened between Mundane and Faerie, he felt a calling to come to our dimension.  He didn’t know why.

He really didn’t know why after he arrived either, unless it was an exercise in humiliation--sorry, humility.  Whether because they were afraid he’d eat the children or poop on the sidewalk, people treated him with suspicion.  The US Department of Immigration, while willing to consider citizenship for elves, dwarves, or any other bipedal Faerie life form, refused to grant Vern the personhood status he needs to have a green card and obtain regular employment.  However, he also found that a lot of Mundanes, once they got to know him, were genuinely kind and accepting of him.  Like several of his friends say, “God bless St. George.  Your curse is our blessing.”  He’s also found that by helping humans on this side of the Gap, he earns back his abilities just as easily as in Faerie.  The advantage is, that with the opening between the two worlds, there are a lot more opportunities for him to help out both worlds.

So now he’s living in an old warehouse on the seedy side of Los Logos which also holds to office of Dragon Eye, PI.  He’s a professional problem-solver, no job too big or too little, wisdom of eternity, knowledge of the ages, virginity verified…you know the drill.  Flights extra.  Saving the multiverse, lots extra.

ABOUT SISTER GRACE

Sister Grace is a High Church Mage with Faerie Our Lady of the Miracles (FOLM).  She stands not much higher than five feet, has eyes the metallic blue of the calm Mediterranean and hair of a silvery red color that few have ever seen and (since she keeps it tucked under her wimple) few ever will.  They say it’s the color of magic, but she says that sounds like something out of a Terry Pratchett novel, and Faerie is no Discworld.

Faerie, is however, a world of magic--holy, benign and evil--and Sr. Grace has dedicated her life to fighting the powers of Hell and those who exercise those powers. 

Not much is known about Sister Grace's past, and neither she, nor those she's close to will say much.  There area lot of rumors about her:  that her grandfather was a stone-deaf sailor and her grandmother a woman of unsurpassed beauty and ageless beauty in body and voice.  That Sister Grace inherited that same agelessness.  That she was sent to the convent as child because only the sisters would be able to control her magical abilities.  That she took on the powers of Hell and barely won and even now bears the scars of that soul-tearing battle.  Ask her about it, however, and she'll just laugh and say, "Certainly makes me sound the mystery woman, doesn't it?"

However, we do know she entered the FOLM as a child, both because of her sincere desire to follow the Lord and because of her unusually strong natural magical talent.  Her first years at the convent were spent in seclusion and strict training until her abilities were well harnessed to God's will.  She was just entering her teens when she took the habit of a novice and was again able to mix with people outside the convent.

Sister Grace spent many more years in study and apprenticeship before taking her final vows and being granted master status.  Since then, she has taught others and served in several magical capacities, including proelium ecclesiae, or "Defender of the Church."  This is an assignment she does not talk much about, but it was after this last duty that she took a sabbatical to move across the Gap and study Mundane religious music.  She attends Little Flower Catholic Church, and Father Rich coaxed her into serving as cantor.  There's something truly amazing about her voice; everyone feels it, and she's even had a couple of talent agents approach her.  She says, however, that her singing is much like her magic--a gift of God that has must be controlled and applied only to specific purposes. 

She and Vern met in church, and were great friends from the start.  When the people of Los Lagos start acting erratically, she joins with Vern to trace the cause to a new band, which has somehow managed to use technology to mimic the unusual quality of Grace's voice, with disastrous results.  They were such a great team, that Grace decided to stick around.  After receiving permission from her mother house, she became a partner in Dragon Eye Private Detective Agency.  She lives in the warehouse with Vern, where she has her own "workshop" and has gotten her private investigators' license.  Together, they've saved our world and Faerie several times.

As Vern would say, "It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship."